MELBOURNE, Australia The market for diabetes drugs will be worth $37 billion by 2018, up from $20 billion in 2008, according to a new forecast by British market research firm Datamonitor.

The firm said that while this presented “significant” opportunities for pharmaceutical companies that can develop new therapies to address unmet needs of Type 2 diabetes patients, much of the growth will take place among such DPP-IV inhibitors as Merck & Co.’s Januvia (sitagliptin). The effect of GLP-1 agonists, such as Novo Nordisk’s Victoza (liraglutide), will be smaller, but still significant, according to the analysis.

But while Type 2 diabetes is generally viewed as a disease, many physicians continue to view obesity as the result of lifestyle choices despite its role in diabetes, according to the report.

“Despite obesity being a large driver for the Type 2 diabetes market growth, our research only forecasts the value of this sector to reach $600 million by 2018,” Datamonitor analyst Nick Karachalias said in a statement. “The sector continues to be plagued by low efficacy, significant side effect profiles and lack of reimbursement by healthcare providers.”

Some obesity drugs have had difficulty taking off, such as Abbott’s Reductil (sibutramine) and Sanofi-Aventis’ Acomplia (rimonabant), both pulled from the shelves in Europe amid concerns over side effects, with Acomplia never having won U.S. regulatory approval.

Nevertheless, some obesity drugs have also made inroads. The Food and Drug Administration recently accepted a regulatory approval application from drug maker VIVUS for the obesity drug Qnexa (phentermine and topiramate), and a Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers database lists 30 obesity drugs, including Qnexa, in various stages of clinical development or under consideration by the FDA.

Latisse is a prescription treatment for hypotrichosis used to grow eyelashes. Eyelash hypotrichosis is another name for not having enough eyelashes or eyelashes that are inadequate. The topical solution must be applied each night on the skin of the upper eyelid margins at the base of the eyelashes. Results are gradual and peak after 12 to 16 weeks.

WILMINGTON, Del. Two drug makers hope to find out how well a diabetes drug works in treating patients who run the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in a post-marketing study announced Tuesday.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca announced the start of a phase 4 study of 12,000 patients with Type 2 diabetes treated with the drug Onglyza (saxagliptin). The placebo-controlled study, called SAVOR-TIMI 53, will take place over a five-year period and follow patients who have a history of previous cardiovascular problems or multiple risk factors for vascular disease, with the goal of determining whether adding Onglyza to their current standard of care will reduce their risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke.

RELATED NEWS

The workshops, sponsored by McKesson, have been offered by the Alexandria, Va.-based organization for more than 20 years and are slated to take place June 8-10 in Denver, Colo., and Oct. 4-6 in Boston.

Forgotten Password

Registration complete

REGISTER

USERNAME *

Spaces are allowed; punctuation is not allowed except for periods, hyphens, and underscores.

E-MAIL ADDRESS *

A valid e-mail address. All e-mails from the system will be sent to this address. The e-mail address is not made public and will only be used if you wish to receive a new password or wish to receive certain news or notifications by e-mail.

Password *

Confirm Password *

Please choose a password for your account; it must be 8 - 30 characters. .

First Name *

Last Name *

Company Name *

Job Title *

ZIP *

Country *

Are you a *

Retailer or Healthcare professional

Non-Retailer

How many stores do you operate?: *

Which best describes the business/industry you work in?: *

Which best describes your job title?: *

Please select the newsletters you would like to subscribe to

DSN A.M.
Daily news stories covering the retail drug industry

Breaking News
First-to-the-market with developing stories in the industry